Everybody Hates Chris
Everybody Hates Chris is an American television series that first aired in September 2005 and ended airing in May 2009 on UPN (later became The CW). The show originally aired on Nick@Night, but then moved to TeenNick. Everybody Hates Chris was inspired by Chris Rock's miserable life as a teenager. Chris Rock stated that the show's name is a parody of the popular sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond and the show was created by Chris Rock and Ali LeRoi, narrated by Chris Rock, composed by Marcus Miller, and produced by Chris Rock, Ali LeRoi, Michael Rotenburg, Dave Becky, Howard Gewirtz, and Don Reo. The lead actors of Everybody Hates Chris are Tyler James Williams, Terry Crews, Tichina Arnold, Tequan Richmond, Imani Hakim, and Vincent Martella. Plot Based on the popular comedian Chris Rock's life and experiences as an adolescent, Everybody Hates Chris is about a teenage boy growing up as the oldest of three children in Bed-Stuy, NY, in 1982. 1982 is the year that Chris turns thirteen . Filled with dreams of being a cool teenager, Chris moves with his family from the projects to the "Bed-Stuy: Do or Die" neighborhood. As the family's emergency adult while his parents are working, he's responsible for taking care of his younger brother Drew, who's taller and more confident than Chris, and sister Tonya, who gets all the parents' attention. Chris' rough, cost-conscious father Julius works numerous jobs to properly support his family. Sassy mom Rochelle runs the household on a tight budget, is very strict, and works part-time in a small real estate office. With his mom determined to see him in a good school, though Drew and Tonya go to the same school in their old neighborhood, Chris reluctantly faces multiple bus transfers every day to attend Corleone Junior High in the fiercely Italian neighborhood, South Shore. Despite being an immediate target for bullies, Chris' innate charm and sharp wit enable him to make new friends, like Greg, another smart, nice kid... who can't fight, by the way. As Chris Rock pointedly looks back, his younger self is set to find what his family already knows: Chris' sharp, scrappy character is going to take him places. But first, he's going to have to think, talk, or run his way through one growing experience after another at home and school... and on any number of buses along the way. The episodes feature narration and commentary by the adult Chris, similar to The Wonder Years with the adult Chris usually cracking jokes during his commentary. Characters Awards/Nominations *'Emmy Awards' :2006 - Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series - Mark Doering-Powell for episode "Everybody Hates Funerals". :2006 - Outstanding Costumes for a Series - Darryle Johnson & Sharlene Williams for episode "Everybody Hates The Pilot" (nominated) :2009 - Outstanding Cinematography for a Half-Hour Series - Mark Doering-Powell for episode Everybody Hates Back Talk (nominated) *'Environmental Awards' :2008 - Episodic Comedy (nominated) *'Golden Globes' :2006 - Best Television Series - Musical or Comedy (nominated) *'Image Awards' :2010 - Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series - Tyler James Williams (Nominated) :2010 - Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series - Tichina Arnold (Nominated) :2010 - Outstanding Comedy Series (Nominated) :2010 - Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series - Ali LeRoi for episode "Everybody Hates the G.E.D." (Nominated) :2009 - Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series - Tyler James Williams (Nominated) :2009 - Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series - Terry Crews (Nominated) :2009 - Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series - Tichina Arnold (Nominated) :2009 - Outstanding Comedy Series (Nominated) :2009 - Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series - Ali LeRoi for episode "Everybody Hates Port Authority" (Nominated) :2008 - Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series - Ali LeRoi for episode "Everybody Hates Guidance Counselor" (Won) :2008 - Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series - Tyler James Williams (Nominated) :2008 - Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series - Terry Crews (Nominated) :2008 - Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series - Tichina Arnold (Nominated) :2008 - Outstanding Comedy Series (Nominated) :2008 - Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series - Ali LeRoi for episode "Everybody Hates Baseball" (Nominated) :2008 - Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series - Millicent Shelton for episode "Everybody Hates the Substitute" (Nominated) :2007 - Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series - Tyler James Williams (Won) :2007 - Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series - Tichina Arnold (Nominated) :2007 - Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series - Terry Crews (Nominated) :2007 - Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series - Antonio Fargas (Nominated) :2007 - Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series - Whoopi Goldberg (Nominated) :2007 - Outstanding Comedy Series (Nominated) :2007 - Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series - Ali LeRoi for episode "Everybody Hates Elections" (Nominated) :2007 - Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series - Millicent Shelton for episode "Everybody Hates Valentine's Day" (Nominated) :2006 - Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series - Tichina Arnold (Won) :2006 - Outstanding Comedy Series (Won) :2006 - Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series - Tyler James Williams (Nominated) :2006 - Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series - Terry Crews (Nominated) :2006 - Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series - Ken Whittingham (Nominated) *'Motion Picture Sound Editors' :2006 - Best Sound Editing in Television Short Form - Dialogue and Automated Dialogue Replacement - for episode "Everybody Hates Basketball" (Nominated) :2006 - Best Sound Editing in Television Short Form - Music - for episode "Everybody Hates Halloween" (Nominated) *'People's Choice Awards' :2006 - Favorite New Television Comedy (Nominated) *'Satellite Awards' :2006 - Best Television Series, Comedy or Musical (Nominated) *'Teen Choice Awards' :2006 - TV - Choice Actor: Comedy - Tyler James Williams (Nominated) :2006 - TV - Choice Actress: Comedy - Tichina Arnold (Nominated) :2006 - TV - Choice Breakout Show (Nominated) :2006 - TV - Choice Comedy/Musical Show (Nominated) :2006 - TV - Choice Parental Unit - Tichina Arnold & Terry Crews (Nominated) :2006 - TV - Choice Sidekick - Vincent Martella (Nominated) *'Television Critics Association Awards' :2006 - Outstanding Achievement in Comedy (Nominated) :2006 - Outstanding New Program of the Year (Nominated) *'Writers Guild of America' :2006 - New Series (Nominated) *'Young Artist Awards' :2006 - Best Family Television Series (Comedy) (Won) :2006 - Best Performance in a TV Series - Leading Young Actor (Comedy or Drama) - Tyler James Williams (Nominated) :2006 - Best Performance in a TV Series - Supporting Young Actor (Comedy or Drama) - Vincent Martella (Nominated) :2008 - Best Performance in a TV Series - Leading Young Actor - Tyler James Williams (Nominated) :2008 - Best Performance in a TV Series - Supporting Young Actor - Vincent Martella (Nominated) Episodes Trivia •All episode titles start with the words "Everybody Hates...". •The character 'Drew' is loosely based on Chris Rock's brother Tony Rock. Growing up, real-Chris Rock said that Tony was cooler than he was. •Though the German series title "Alle hassen Chris" is a direct translation of the English title, episode titles of the German version start with the words "Chris hasst" ("Chris hates"). •The first episode scored the highest rating for a comedy premiere on UPN and the third best rating for any program on UPN. •After the first season, the show was picked up by The CW, which was created by the merger between UPN and The WB. •According to the season 1 DVD release of the show, the episode "Everybody Hates the Babysitter" on the disc has the cast commentary in the episode and said that Tichina Arnold ad-libbed a lot of the things she says in the show. •Tequan Richmond auditioned for the role of Chris, but Ali LeRoi and Chris Rock thought he was 'too cool' for that role so they chose him to play Drew. •Chris Rock's real family had mom, dad, 6 other brother, 1 other sister, and himself. He said that using 6 brothers and 1 sister would've been weird, so he thought it'd be better to use some of his sibling's personalities to make 2 siblings for the show. •Chris Rock's mother's name in real life is Rose. •Tichina Arnold composed a theme song for the show and recorded it with 2 of her friends. However, Ali LeRoi and Chris Rock already had some themes in mind, so they kept the ending of it to put in at the end of episodes and before commercial breaks. •In the original unaired version of the pilot episode, the opening theme song is "The 900 Number" by The 45 King from 1987. •In real-life Tyler James Williams is only a couple of weeks older than Tequan Richmond, but on the show he's a couple of years older. *Greg is based on Chris Rock's childhood friend, David •The show's title is a reference to "Everybody Loves Raymond". •The schools Chris attends - Corleone Junior High and Tattaglia High - are references to characters in "The Godfather". •Chris Rock actually grew up mostly in the 1970s instead of the 1980s. But Rock felt that 70s culture has been parodied enough with shows like "That '70s Show" and moved the time period to the 80s. •Rock initially did not want to cast Tyler James Williams as Chris because he felt Williams was too good-looking to play a kid that everybody hates. But CBS executive Leslie Moonves (CBS owned UPN) insisted on Williams. •Jacqueline Mazarella's role of Ms. Morello was originally only supposed to be for one episode and she had only one line. ("Hello, Chris.") But during her audition, she was encouraged to improvise and "flirt" with Chris. She impressed the producers so much that her role was expanded in later episodes. •Although the show is based on Chris Rock's family and childhood, the family's last name is never stated on the show or in any publicity materials. •A significant amount of the recurring characters are played by actors/actresses from notable African-American sitcoms. Tichina Arnold, who plays Rochelle mom had a recurring role as Pamela "Pam" James in "Martin". Antonio Fargas who took on the role as Doc in the show played Huggy Bear in "Starsky and Hutch" was mentioned in the show. Todd Bridges, who is most remembered as Willis in "Diff'rent Strokes", plays Monk Vietnam Vet. Ernest Thomas, known for his role as Roger 'Raj' Thomas in "What's Happening!!" and "What's Happening Now!" plays the funeral director, Mr. Omar. Jackée Harry, who plays Vanessa co-worker and friend had a major role in two sitcoms. She played Sandra Clark in "227" (which show was also mentioned in the show) but most remembered from her role as Lisa Landry in the 90's sitcom, "Sister, Sister". Reception The American Film Institute selected Everybody Hates Chris as one of the best 10 television series of 2007, stating that the show "provides a very real look at growing up in America — a challenge that demands a discussion of race and class often absent from television today." Everybody Hates Chris won an NAACP Image Award for its writing in 2008. It has also been nominated for Golden Globe and Emmy Awards. In December 2008, Entertainment Weekly lists the Kwanzaa episode from this show as seventh on the magazine's "Must List: 10 Holiday Things We Love." Syndication The show airs regularly on broadcast TV during the week. The show was launched on September 7, 2009 on Nick at Nite, becoming the youngest syndicated show on the channel, beating George Lopez. It comes on every day at 9:00, and continues until 9:30, and then another episode turns on until ten. The show also airs weekdays on BET. Broadcast history 'U.S. broadcast history' UPN * September 2005 – May 2006: Thursdays 8:00 PM/7:00 PM (new) The CW * October 2006 – October 2006: Sundays 7:00 PM/6:00 PM (new) * October 2006 – March 2008: Mondays 8:00 PM/7:00 PM (new) * March 2008 – May 2008: Sundays 8:00 PM/7:00 PM (new) * October 2008 – Fridays 8:00 PM/7:00 PM (new) * December 2008 – Sundays 5:00 PM/4:00 PM (Repeats) * September 2009 – syndication * Nickelodeon (Nick at Nite) * Weekdays - 9:00PM & 9:30PM / 3:00AM & 3:30AM (syndication) BET * Weekdays - 12:00PM & 12:30PM / 5:00PM & 5:30PM (syndication) Syndication The show airs regularly on broadcast TV during the week. The show was launched on September 7, 2009 on Nick at Nite, becoming the youngest syndicated show on the channel, beating George Lopez. It comes on every day at 9:00, and continues until 9:30, and then another episode turns on until ten. The show also airs weekdays on BET. The show now airs on TVONE at 5 in the middle of the night in the US and airs three episodes. External links * *